MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

7/19 Silva: "I got beat"

Lou Piniella and Larry Rothschild will sit down Tuesday to try and figure out what’s wrong with Carlos Silva. On Monday, Silva faced 11 batters in a five-run inning as the Astros collected seven hits. He opened the season 8-0 but now is 1-4 in his last seven starts and hasn’t gotten past the second inning in the last two. Monday was his shortest outing since he lasted two-thirds of an inning May 30, 2008, against Detroit. What happened?

“Silva — I don’t have an explanation,” Piniella said. “We have to get him straightened out.”

In his last two starts, Silva has served up 11 runs on 13 hits and five walks in 2 1/3 innings.

“I don’t know if [the Cubs] have concerns,” Silva said. “I don’t. I’m still human. I felt very good today. I’ll just get ready for the next game.”

It’s the fourth time a Cubs starter has given up five or more runs in the first. Carlos Zambrano did so Opening Day, April 5, and Randy Wells did it twice (May 6 at Pittsburgh and May 28 vs. St. Louis).

“Carlos throws strikes and I think they made a point to come out aggressive,” said Chicago’s Derrek Lee, who had three hits, including two doubles. “He probably threw too many strikes tonight. I’m sure he’ll make the adjustment. I thought his stuff was fine. He was just probably getting too much of the plate and they were aggressive and ready for it.”

Silva had some problems with his right leg but has not loitering in the trainer’s room. He planned on watching video Tuesday to see if he was tipping pitches.

“It’s going to happen,” Silva said. “These things are going to happen. Today I felt really good but I got beat. Everything I was throwing, they were hitting.”

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